(June 1)
The police car pulls up outside of the camp. I glance out the window to take a look at my destination. The officer in the driver's seat gets out and opens my door.

"Get out," he demands.

I try to get out with my hands cuffed in front of me. He didn't have to make the handcuffs so tight... Sure, maybe I was being annoying, but now the cuffs are cutting into my skin.

I give the officer a smile as I stand up. He only glares at me. Then he pushes me forward, towards the camp. I crane my neck up to look at the sign. It's faded and morphed beyond recognition because of years of bad weather. Apparently this used to be a camp for boy scouts. I wonder why it got turned into a camp for criminals?

I'm led through the camp. There are a few cabins and other miscellaneous buildings. The place needs some work. It almost looks like an abandoned ghost town. This place won't be haunted or anything, right...? A cool wind blows through in the middle of summer and I think I've answered my own question. Definitely haunted.

We enter a building with double doors and I already see rows of tables and benches to each side. There's a counter at the back of the room and a door next to it to the right. A cloud moves in front of the sun and the room grows dark. The lights aren't even on. I know I committed a crime... Well, maybe several... But this isn't where I die, is it!? My crime was minor anyway!! Who gets killed for stealing a few things!? Okay, more than a few, but still!!

Just then, a figure emerges out of the shadows. They come from the back of the room towards me. As they get closer, I realize just how tall and burly they are. I want to step away. I want to turn and run. But there's an officer behind me who won't let me go. I can only just wait until the figure reaches me and grants my demise. Oh well, it was a good life...for the most part...

The large hand that comes towards me doesn't squash me like a bug, but instead grabs my hands. I can only blink in surprise. I get a better look at the person in front of me.

It's a man with really short black hair, thick black eyebrows, dark brown eyes, and he's wearing a gray police uniform. His face looks blank as if he has no facial muscles. But there's something different in his eyes. As he takes a look at my injured wrists, there's a flicker of sympathy in his soft brown irises.

The man lets go of my hands and looks at the officer behind me. "Thank you for bringing him, Kudara. I'll take care of him now. Also, could you turn the lights on as you pass by the switch?" The man's voice is a deep baritone. He also speaks in monotone.

"Sure..." The officer leaves, sounding annoyed. Is he still irritated with me? That happened like what, half an hour ago? I didn't know me asking "are we there yet" several times would get on his nerves this bad. It makes me want to annoy him again.

The man in front of me catches my attention again. He meets my eyes. "Welcome. My name is Yuuma. Please call me Counselor Yuuma. I'll explain everything about the camp and answer any questions you might have after everyone else has arrived. Please take a seat for a moment."

Yuuma then walks away, into the door in the back. Yuuma, huh... He scared me at first. But from that look in his eyes, I already felt like I shouldn't be scared. He's quite interesting. I walk over to a random table and sit. I glance around the room again as I wait. It has a pretty high ceiling.

Eventually, Yuuma comes back. I'm surprised to see him holding a first aid kit. He sits across from me at the table.

"Give me your hands. I'll get those handcuffs off," he instructs. He pulls out a small key from his pocket.

I put my hands on the table. He unlocks the handcuffs and they fall off with a clunk. Then he begins disinfecting my wounds and wrapping them up. I stay quiet and stare as he works. Everything is surprising to me right now. I need to pick up my jaw off the floor. I should focus on figuring out how I'm going to survive in this place for a year.

I'm a criminal, a thief to be exact. I was brought here to be one of the guinea pigs for this new rehabilitation camp. I've never been to prison, but it sounds awful. Despite this being called a rehabilitation camp, I'm guessing it'll be bad here too. Why would anyone care about me, some good-for-nothing criminal? It also sounds like other criminals will be joining me and we'll have to live here at the camp for the entire year. Will the others be hostile? Will we even be able to get along? Everything is so uncertain.

"Your wrists will heal in no time at all, don't worry," Yuuma says, stirring me from my thoughts.

"Oh... Thanks..." I say. I look at my bandaged wrists. He did a good job. But if officers are supposed to dislike criminals, and they usually treat them horribly, why are Yuuma's hands so gentle...?

After a short wait, the next criminal strolls in. It's a young looking boy with short white hair. He wears a black mask over his mouth and nose. It has a big white X on it. He also wears a long black coat as if he wants to hide as much of his skin as possible. A coat in summer though...? There's also a shiny silver earring in his left ear.

As he glances around, we make brief eye contact. His eyes are a deep green. He looks away faster than I expected. Yuuma takes the boy from the officer and unlocks the cuffs on his hands too. I see his cuffs didn't dig into his skin. Lucky... I guess I can't complain anymore though. My wounds are wrapped up nicely now. They don't really hurt either.

Then, one after the other, the other criminals arrive. The next is a boy with longer brown hair, brilliant red eyes, many black ear piercings, a black choker, and a beauty mark under his right eye. His clothes are casual and very fashionable. He wears blue skinny jeans and a light pink shirt that's half tucked in. He also has black lace gloves it looks like? I'm almost in awe at how beautiful he is. I've never seen a guy who is so—

"Kyaa~! You like to be rough, don't you~?" The boy smirks and looks back at the officer behind him. The officer only pushed him forward and the boy sounded like he was getting off on it.

The officer seemed stunned at the boy's reaction. I was surprised myself. I was about to compliment him more, but with only a few words, he shattered my first image of him. He's just some pervert... Sigh... Moving on...

Yuuma took the cuffs off the boy, and the officer who brought him in left as fast as he could. The boy smirked at Yuuma.

"Hey, you look pretty fit~ I wonder what you'd look like with your clothes off~" he winked. Yuuma was frozen. This new boy wastes no time, huh... He's so direct... I hope we don't have to talk to each other...

Yuuma can't say anything and directs the boy to sit down. The white haired boy has taken up a corner at the back table on the right. I stay sitting at a table on the left, by the door. The new boy takes a seat at the back left table. Yuuma stands at the counter and I assume the new boy chose that seat so he could be close to him...

The next boy who comes in is already looking incredibly angry. The officer handling him almost seems scared, trying to keep a distance while also keeping a hand nearby to grab him if needed. The boy has a fluffy blue mohawk with the sides buzzed, gleaming orange eyes, a scar across his left eye, and orange studs in his ears. He wears a casual shirt and jeans with a blue jacket. His scowl is frightening and he looks like he could be a big dog being held at bay by the officer behind him.

Yuuma calmly walks up to him, which I'm sure I couldn't do. I'd be afraid the boy would bite me or something. But the boy doesn't bite Yuuma, and lets him take off the cuffs instead. The officer flees to safety. The boy plops down at the table in front of the white haired boy's.

The last arrival is a boy with greasy, long-ish purple hair parted in the middle. He has dull yellow eyes and his cheeks almost look sunken in. His clothes are raggedy and dirty. Despite looking like he was picked up off the streets and is unwell, he's smiling brightly. He looks around as if he's in complete awe of his surroundings. Like he's never seen a building before. Or maybe a table. Or maybe even the wood that the room is made out of. His eyes are everywhere as he tries to take it all in.

Yuuma takes off the boy's cuffs but the boy barely notices. Yuuma has to tell him a couple times to sit. He sits at the table across from me on the other side of the room. It looks like he has trouble finding his seat as his eyes are everywhere but the table and bench in front of him. But eventually his butt finds the bench. He looks extremely restless and bounces his leg at a rapid speed. Just watching him overwhelms me and makes me feel exhausted. Luckily, Yuuma begins talking to introduce us to the camp.

"Hello everyone. My name is Counselor Yuuma and I ask that you refer to me as such. This camp is a prototype for a rehabilitation camp for criminals. We're only in the testing stage but hopefully we'll be allowed to continue it for the entire year, which is how long each of your sentences are. If everything goes well, it will become a real camp.

"The purpose of this camp is to help criminals rethink the crime they committed and why they committed such a crime. My mission is to help each of you with any internal problems instead of having you bear the burden yourselves. So please be open to talk about it. I know you may not want to at first, but I hope we can warm up to each other.

"You all were arrested and being isolated in this camp is a punishment. But I don't want it to seem unbearable. Remember that you're here to think about the crimes you committed and to never do them again after this. I want us to be on good terms, but I will push you to change and improve your way of thinking."

Yuuma sounds stern, but I get the feeling he's a big softy. If he's in charge, I know this camp won't be like the things I heard prison is like. It won't even compare to that. I guess I just have to avoid conflict with the others and glide through the year. He says he wants us to rethink our crimes, but stealing isn't that bad. I seriously doubt I'll change my mind about that. I'll pretend to humor him. I hope the year speeds by or I may start thinking this is torture...

"Now then, let me introduce everyone," he continues. "You know my name, but you may not know those around you. You'll be living close with each other so you have to get acquainted first." 

Yuuma glances to the side and gestures, "The one in the corner is Gin."

The white haired boy, Gin, twitches at his name. He refuses to meet any of our eyes. He turns his head away as far as he can. His eyebrows look troubled. He really doesn't like attention, huh?

"Behind him is Kentaro," Yuuma gestures to him next.

The scary dog known as Kentaro glances around as if to greet us with only his eyes. Seems like he can be calm at times, but he still looks menacing. He looks like he won't attack anyone, but I'd rather not test his patience. I'll probably try to stay away from him.

"Behind Kentaro is Matsu."

The guy still bouncing his leg is Matsu. He was staring at the back wall as if something was there. When he heard his name, he snapped out of it for a moment. He looked around, wondering why his name was said. We let him be and no one tells him why.

"Across from Matsu is Akiara," Yuuma introduces me.

I smile kindly and wave. Seems like I'm the only normal one who would smile and wave when introduced. Everyone else has been really weird about this. I'm concerned. Can I even get along with these strange characters...?

"And this is Hisashi," Yuuma points his hand towards the pervert.

Hisashi is sitting as close as he can get to Yuuma without standing up. He isn't going to try to pounce on him, is he!? Yuuma looks like he could overpower anyone no problem, but his gentle hands make me wonder if he really would. Hisashi seems too distracted by Yuuma to greet us, he won't even make eye contact with us like Kentaro did. Is it bad that I already want to go home? Not like I came here of my own free will though.

"Now I'll discuss our schedule," Yuuma continues.

He grabs pamphlets from the counter and begins passing them out. I glance over it and see it's an overview of the camp. It briefly explains the purpose of the rehabilitation camp, shows the schedule in full, and includes a map. The schedule seems like the most detailed item because it has pages to explain each term.

"You don't have to read it all because I'll be explaining it, but this is a pamphlet of the camp if you need to refer back to it," Yuuma explains. He opens his own pamphlet.

"Let's talk about the schedule. From Sunday to Friday, we have our usual schedule. This consists of all three main meals, a workout orchestrated by me, meditation to help calm our minds, a lesson by me on criminology which may be insightful, bonding activities with each other to get along through things like puzzles and crafts, community service for the camp like cleaning up the grounds and building facilities that we don't have yet, the awards ceremony for those who have followed the rules and participated and can get things back like sentimental items or have the chance to call family or friends, clean up which involves cleaning up after yourselves from activities and such, and a break or two in between.

"The schedule for Saturday is a bit different. You will have all three meals, the workout and meditation, but then you have a different lesson. This lesson is with Teacher Teshima who will help you with your studies. I know some of you haven't finished high school or haven't had access to a proper education. Teacher Teshima is here to help everyone get on the right track. You'll be able to enter back into society easily enough if you properly participate in her classes.

"That's the whole schedule. You can see specific times on your pamphlet for everything. You'll sleep around 8-9 pm and wake up at 7 am. Does anyone have any questions about the schedule?" he asks.

Hisashi raises his hand. I'm almost nervous about what he's going to say.

"Who makes the meals? Do you cook, Counselor Yuuma?" he asks. He's smirking. I don't like that look.

"No. I'll introduce you all to Ana, our cook. You may refer to her as Chef Ana. Any other questions?" Yuuma moves on before Hisashi has a chance to say anything perverted.

I slowly raise my hand. "Um... What are these 'rules' exactly...?" And how can I break them? Just kidding, I would never. Or would I...?

"The rules are simple; follow the schedule and be on time for everything, participate in every activity until the specified amount of time has passed, get along with each other, and help me make this camp a success in the end. Don't cause any kind of trouble or you'll get a certain punishment," he explains.

Hisashi perks up. "Punishment? What kind of punishment~?"